Affiliate Program Software & Service Options

Past posts have given you the information to start understanding what you might want out of an affiliate system and why.

If this is the first post you’ve read about Creating Your Affiliate Program, I encourage you to go back and read everything up to this point, so you can make the most informed decision possible for your affiliate program.

So, let’s move ahead, shall we?

There are three popular options when it comes to setting up your affiliate program:

Have your programmer install a script on your server

This means you will have complete control over your affiliate program and everything will be hosted on your domain.

Also, experienced programmers may be able to make modifications to existing scripts that will further customize your program to make it do exactly what you want it do. With a script, you basically pay a one-time fee and then you will likely need a program for maintenance and upgrades. You will also be responsible for managing and paying your affiliates.

NOTE: Scripts often require maintenance and may not work well with some hosting accounts and the way they are configured. Be prepared to spend a bit of extra money to have a programmer maintain the script for you, back up your databases, etc…unless you know how to do this yourself.

Some server script options:

IdevAffiliate

It’s not a bad script, but I’ve heard it has had trouble with recurring payments and refunds. Make sure to do your due diligence.

Post Affiliate Free

QualityUnit.com/postaffiliate – Has a  free option with a Pro upgrade.

Amember Pro

Amember.com – This is a script for membership sites, but can be used for one-time sales as well, and is what I use personally use for this site.. It works very well for our purposes, but the reporting (for Admin and affiliate purposes) is lacking.

Get a Script Made

You can hire a programmer at MyElanceOnline.com and have them set something up according to your specifications. (Expensive)

Third-Party Options

This means, instead of worrying about a script running on your site and maintaining it, you have another company take care of it. They make sure all upgrades are done and you simply manage your affiliate program through your own account on their domain.

This is likely a more expensive option than #1 because it carries a monthly fee. However, if you are going to hire a programmer to maintain your script, it may not be as expensive at it first appears. With a 3rd party hosted script you are also responsible for managing and paying out your affiliates. This isn’t such a big deal if you use the PayPal Mass Pay option, where you can pay your affiliates with a few clicks of your mouse.

Some Third-Party Options

QuickSales

YourQuickSales.com – This is a private label version of 1ShoppingCart.  It’s a full ecommerce system that allow you to manage all your products, mailing lists, ad trackers, affiliates and more. It also allows for pay-per-lead and pay-per-click campaigns.

WAHMCart

WAHMCart.com – This is a similar system to Quicksales, but is far cheaper and offers a lot of the same functionality. To it’s credit, it allows for link tracking for affiliates, while Quicksales does not. However, WAHMCart does not have a pay-per-lead or pay-per-click option.

Full Service Affiliate Provider

This is the most hands-off approach, but the most expensive. There is often a start-up fee, plus you’ll pay transaction fees as well. They completely manage your program from hosting it to managing your affiliates to paying them as well. However, realize you’ll still need to do work to recruit and motivate your affiliates.

You could go with the big guys at CJ.com, but expect to shell out thousands of dollars just to get started. If you sell digital products, you could go with a program like ClickBank or PayDotCom and get started with very little start-up cost.

Some Options Include:

Commission Junction

CJ.com- Top-notch program, but it comes with a hefty start-up fee and is often beyond the reach of a budding home-based business.

ClickBank

ClickBank.com – for digital products like software and information products. One big drawback of this system, as is, that you don’t know who your affiliates are to stay in contact with them, however a paid script like Easy Click Mate will offer a partial solution to the problem.

PayLoadz

PayLoadz.com – for digital downloads with PayPal and Google Checkout. There is no built-in system for contacting your affiliates with this system either.

PayDotCom

PayDotCom.com – Products and services sold using PayPal only.

There are plenty more options in each category and you can search around for options. Be sure to ask your friends or colleagues on your favorite message board to see what they recommend. You can often learn a lot more from someone who’s used the system than you can by reading the company’s web page. Still, do take advantage of the system’s customer service to ask questions about specific features. If you get good service before the sale, that’s a good indication of what you can expect after you become a customer.